The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art this week announced the completion of 6 Times, the latest project by renowned British sculptor and artist Antony Gormley. 6 Times, commissioned by the National Galleries of Scotland, consists of six life-sized human sculptures placed at various points along the waterway from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, close to Dean Village, to the sea at Leith Docks. Four of the solid cast-iron figures stand in the flow of the Water of Leith itself and their brooding mystery and quiet stoicism serve to enhance the natural beauty of the river and its banks.
Each of the sculptures, crafted to resemble Antony Gormley himself, strike a unique contemplative pose. The first figure stands buried up to the chest in the grounds of the National Gallery of Modern Art while the second gazes down into the water from its position ankle-deep in the river basin behind the gallery building. Travelling downstream along the Water of Leith, one encounters three more figures; one looking upwards at Stockbridge’s eponymous crossing, another at Powderhall amidst the leafy banks and a third at Bonnington secluded underneath a willow tree along one of the quietest stretches of the river. The sixth and final sculpture stands at the edge of a jutting pier in Leith, overlooking the point where the Water of Leith finally joins the sea. Set at the juncture between river and ocean, it cuts a striking and dramatic silhouette against the horizon.
Gormley Sculpture at Stockbridge
6 Times is the culmination of months of work and over £400,000 of investment by the National Galleries, aided by a £150,000 grant from the Art Fund and generous donations from other sources, including The Patrons of the National Galleries of Scotland. Numerous local organisations assisted with the planning and implementation of the project, including Forth Ports PLC, Scottish Natural Heritage, City of Edinburgh Council, Water of Leith Conservation Trust and Lothian and Borders Police.
Antony Gormley, 6 Times‘ creator, is perhaps best known for the famous ‘Angel of the North’ sculpture overlooking the A1 Motorway at Gateshead in Tyneside and for ‘One & Other’, the project that saw members of the public take to the vacant fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square in London in 2009. Gormley was also the creative mind behind ‘Another Place’, an installation of one hundred cast-iron figures similar to those used in 6 Times, along the seashore at Cuxhaven in Germany. The sculptures have since been moved to Crosby in Merseyside, where they now permanently reside.
For more information on 6 Times by Antony Gormley, see the National Galleries of Scotland Website.
